Fly, Birdie, Fly

Here are some progress photos of our Gouldian Finch babies' development. In this image, the babies are about 10 days old, and have grown quite a bit from their bumble-bee size and grub-like appearance at hatching. You can clearly see the giant transparent crop stuffed full of millet seeds and bits of egg.



Here the babies are 18 days old, looking a little more like birds, though the freakishly full crop is still quite visible. You can also see the iridescent blue beads on either side of their beak that act as part of their food-goes-here system. They will have those for several weeks after fledging, as their parents continue to feed them part-time.



And here is one of the little guys at 33 days, who left the nest about a week before. He's wearing his baby camouflage for now; it will be around 4-6 months before he moults into his adult colors and we find out exactly what we've got. (There are many color mutations). The brilliantly colored bird with the white breast is his father, and the mangy looking one with the partially bald head is another male we've had for many years. We haven't figured out why he cycles through periods of baldness, but his girlfriend doesn't seem to mind. He is currently sitting on three eggs with our other female.